I've never owned a pickup truck - but often wished I had one. I asked my brother once (who at the time owned a FULLY loaded ford F-350 monster diesel) if it was still possible to order an F150 - no air - no power windows - no carpets - 2wd - am/fm basic radio - no tinted windows - no, no, no, thank you very much..

He said that he doubted it.

I'd like a very practical truck with NO frills.
I can't afford new right now. I got to thinking that I'd look for a 2wd toyota tacoma, but the used prices are still really up there. Then I got the idea that I'd look for a twenty year, or older, F-150 with as few options as possible.

Can anyone lend a little practial advice here?
Would I be looking at a lot of headaches? I don't care if it swims through corners, wallows in snow, leaks rain through the windows, etc..
I'd just like to have reasonably sturdy transportation with an open bed. I can fix things as I go.

Anybody out there running an older pickup? Are they reasonably inexpensive to maintain (barring catastrophe)? Any models or years that I should look out for as especially reliable?

Thanks a lot.

 

Well it might be a bit harder to find a plain jane pickup truck thats 20 or so years old you could pick a loaded one up for cheap or relatively anyways

 

If you are not handy and have tools to work on it, I would not recommend you buy an older truck, unless you plan to buy some tools and want a learning experience.

Ford used to sell(and they still may) a model they called a "work truck". I know they still make them in the larger models. You can tell these right away because the grille will be black instead of chrome. These are usually bought for fleets, and are pretty much stripped with vinyl seats and no carpet. But they might have a stereo and A/C, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

Well it might be a bit harder to find a plain jane pickup truck thats 20 or so years old you could pick a loaded one up for cheap or relatively anyways i dont think that expensive to look after of course if its older some might need some work here and there

 

sounds like you want one of those early 70's f-100's. i had one for many years. very simple and very dependable. simple can be better, i'll agree w/ that. ya can still run them here in the southwest, but i imagine most in the east are just rusted up buckets of bolts. i loved my '71 but i sold it and bought a new truck....an '81 lol i love older trucks.

 

For primitive simple transportation nothing beats a old ford truck.

I like my 82 F100, and 86 F150, both have power nothing and are simple to work on.

 

Well I have had my 86 150 XL for 8 yrs and it been a great truck it has ps tilt,cruise and intermit wipers and thats it no air pw or carpet and it has a EFI 302 w/AOD.
It was a DD for 7 yrs with min repairs and the best ford truck I have owned so far and thats why I kept it so long,its got 188000 miles on it and just starting to show its age but still runs and drives great.
The only major repairs has been radius arm bushings, one ball joint and a tfi module.
I myself would like another one just like it with a better body and air and would do a mass air conversion to it.

 

The 85 F-150 I had I bought in 2003 and drove it 2 years with nothing major happening, but even then everything that happened i can only blame on myself. Nothing went wrong until i started offroading it pretty hard, and then I was replacing more abuse items than wear items.

Heck, it was on the road until about a week ago when someone stole it and wrecked it, so i went out and picked up an 86 to replace it.

The 85 was an absolute base model with the only option being an NP435 and the 6100lb GVW package. otherwise it had nothing. The 86 I picked up is an XLT Lariat with cruise, air, whole nine yards. Paid $500 for the 85 in perfect running order, decent body. Paid $300 for the 86 perfect body, grendaded motor.

I'll second that if you have the knowledge to work on it yourself go for it since little things will go wrong on a fairly regualr basis just since all of the parts on the truck will be 20 years old. If you can't fix most stuff on your own you're better off getting a newer truck, otherwise shop costs for little things do add up in a big hurry.

Just a quick example, a tune up on one of these trucks is about $50 in parts. Go to a shop and you'll be paying about $300 to have it done.

Justin

 

Thanks for all the returns you guys. I do have a fair amount of skill, mostly wrenching and tuning motorcycles, so I have the tools and confidence to tackle what may come along. One thing that encourages me to look for a well cared for twenty plus year old F150 or F100 is parts availability. I'd guess that due to their vast numbers out there that oem and aftermarket parts would be (relatively) plentiful and inexpensive. Is that correct?

I've been the route of a few less-than-well-known older motorcycles, and that sinking feeling you get at the parts counter looking for some exotic little casting and told that "we can order that.. it'll be three months... and five hundred dollars"

 

That was strange. Board went down for a while, when I tried to edit my post. When the board returned, my time had expired for editing. I'll just cut and paste here, sorry for the repeat..

Thanks for all the returns you guys. I do have a fair amount of skill, mostly wrenching and tuning motorcycles, so I have the tools and confidence to tackle what may come along.

One thing that encourages me to look for a well cared for twenty plus year old F150 or F100 is parts availability. I'd guess that due to their vast numbers out there that oem and aftermarket parts would be (relatively) plentiful and inexpensive. Is that correct?

I've been the route of a few less-than-well-known older cars and motorcycles, and that sinking feeling you get at the parts counter looking for some exotic little casting and told that "we can order that.. it'll be three months... and five hundred dollars"

Is anyone familiar with fleet auctions, repossessions, etc? Are these recommended? Where do I look for these? I'm not helpless. I'll get my truck by one of these means eventually. But I really do appreciate the first hand experience that exists on forums such as these. Eventually, I'll be able to give back to the community.

Thanks again,

 

Welocome to FTE,

You have so many options on a truck purchase.
1. Buy an older truck 80s or so, and work on it to keep it in good running order. I have a 88 Mazda B2000 I bought for $500, and I got a free 84 Bronco. You have to look for this type of deals and be ready to do some work.
2. Buy a newer used truck. I recently bought a 2002 F150 for around 9000.00
and the only money I've put into it was tires, shocks, oil change items.
In other words, no repair concerns.
3. Buy a stripper F150 - I know they can be around 15,000 and come with good rebates.

 

Hey buddy---I was you a couple weeks ago. I got lucky and had a buddy selling a 1986 F-250 5.8l 351w 2wd. I got it for $500 of the $1000 he was looking for. I'm also lucky to have a great friend who's also a great wrench who has helped me a ton.(the bottles of Jack I've gotten him attest to that!) But, unlike you, I'm mechanically DEclined, but I'm excited to learn. This site has been awesome with the information and people on it! The truck runs great, and I'm looking forward to keeping it that way. So keep looking, they're out there!

 

Click this link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1982-...QQcmdZViewItem They show up on eBay Motors Auction every so often, I've seen several there.

 

hey, thats helps a heck of alot to have a buddy who knows this stuff. thats kinda what FTE is about. during the 80's and 90's i was contracting so much work that i didn't have time to work on my truck (not that i would have known what i was doing). my neighbor and good friend work as a wrench for ford, man did he know his stuff. he kept my '71 in such good shape that even a new truck wouldn't have been better. it would have been a waste of money. at that time i didn't know much about mech., but could build ya a hell-of-a-house. i now have a lot of free time, about all i do is learn about and work on the trucks. every little nut and bolt, what it is and why it's there. my brother-in-law jokingly calls them my hobby trucks because i don't really work them anymore. so, bjamesw and sh1520, if ya got the time, learn (which is what i think your doing here). it's a good hobby. lol

 

I agree bro--it's FUN too! And I get a sense of accomplishment knowing that I did something I never thought I'd be able to do. So all those bottles of Jack I give to my buddy are worth their weight in gold when I learn something new!